Tanjore

Excellent and authentic South Indian food. Lovely ambience and gracious servers. Beautiful décor. Place was fully packed but the server was able to secure a table for me. Loved the idli and sambar and masala dosa.

Everything about this place makes me want to go back for another meal. I am originally from South India and found this restaurant during my recent trip to Edinburgh and immediately went in after looking at their menu.
I had the Mysore Masala Dosa which is, hands down, the best I’ve had outside of India. I also had filter coffee with my meal which was pretty good as well.
The best way to judge if I really liked an Indian restaurant abroad is asking myself if I would visit this place if it were in India. I think with Tanjore the answer to that is a resounding yes.

I enjoyed a nice dinner here with my flatmates –one of whom is an Indian who is very particular about their food. Upon suggestion by my Indian flatmate, I ordered the lamb dosai, which was quite good. I did order the food with extra potatoes –again, at my flatmate’s suggestion –and instead the dosai came out with NO potatoes whatsoever, which was disappointing to me.
Actually, we all ordered extra potatoes and mine and as well as my other non-​Indian flatmate’s meal came out with no potatoes instead. We let it slide though as the dosai was still good, but I did wonder if our server was paying attention at all. The food took a while to arrive and our Indian flatmate’s food took even longer than ours to arrive.
Anyway, the three of us really did enjoy our meals, despite not getting the potatoes we asked for. We also ordered dessert and those were all good as well –no complaints there. However, the service at Tanjore was truly nothing to write home about in all honesty, which dampened our experience there.
Would I come back? Hmmm… I honestly don’t think so. The food was good, but I think the service overall was not great and the experience was average to me. A plus about Tanjore is that the food is still cheap, which a good thing. Indian food in Edinburgh still seems to always be priced reasonably, which is interesting to me.

I love a good dosa. And I am slightly biased towards South Indian food, it’s my favourite. Tanjore does dosas very well, and I think is run by a South Indian family so the food is very authentic and perhaps almost as good as you’d get in Mysore or Kerala.
Dosas are large, thin, crispy pancakes made with lentil and rice flour (so they’re gluten free). The best, more traditional one, is the masala dosa made with potato and onion and spices. I had the mysore masala dosa, which had the addition of some spicy red tomato sauce along with the potato. And the dosa my friend had with paneer and peas was really delicious too! The meat ones, like lamb, are also great, but I find Indian food to be really satisfying when veggie, all those good spices!
The dosas come with some coconut chutney, coriander chutney, red chutney (not sure what the ingredients are but its good!) and sambar (a small lentil-​based veggie curry). The whole platter will cost around £6 — £7 and is incredibly filling and satisfying!
The restaurant is small, the waiters friendly and it was bustling and a happy, tasty place to be on a Sunday night. But I would recommend booking! We hadn’t, and had to wait 20 minutes for a table (although they were very accomodating in trying to find us one).
One of my new favourite Indian /​dosa spots I think!

I was craving Indian food in this cold weather and decided to try this place as it was on the way back to my B&B. I also didn’t want to visit Scotland without first having Indian food here. Had one of their biryani dishes with a mango lassi. I went in when it was slower so as far as service, they were attentive. I liked how they made the lassi. more fruity than yogurt-​y. The biryani could have used more spice, but the flavors were there. The rice was soft and moist even without the sides of curry sauce and raita. Good experience here overall.

Very good food. Great flavors. Excellent, friendly service. Bring your own alcohol. No corking charge. Will be back.

We had a fantastic curry here on a Thursday night. Definitely make reservations, as this small restaurant will get full quickly! It’s BYOB with no corkage, so come prepared with wine or beer. Service was a bit slow, took ages for them to bring glasses for the wine, but once the food came we really had no further objections.
We split the Masala Dosa «the king of dosas,» for a starter. A dosa is a crêpe made from lentils and rice, and this one was stuffed with potatoes, onions, tomatoes, peas, and spices. Dosai are a staple of South Indian cuisine; I haven’t had one in years, and this one was just wonderful. It looked enormous on the plate, but we quickly devoured it and it made a great starter for two. The veggies inside were soft and delicately seasoned and the crêpe was great with mint chutney.
Then we shared a Chicken Keera Curry (with spinach and lentils) and a Lamb Ghasi (red and tomato-​y, strong spicy flavor). We had a Lemon Rice and a Parotta, a South Indian bread that’s flakier than naan bread. The rice was fragrant, and both of the curries were absolutely outstanding. Strong, complex flavors and not greasy or heavy at all. They tasted fresh and wonderful. The Keera curry was my favorite, it was almost creamy from the lentils. We were both extremely impressed, and cleaned our plates happily. Everything was quite inexpensive too!
The food was really 5 star worthy, but I found the slow and not especially friendly service to be a bit bothersome. Don’t like waiting for wineglasses, and things like that. It’s really a toss-​up between this place and Kismot as to my favorite curry in Edinburgh, but honestly we’d happily go back to either next time we are in town. Great choice if you’re looking for Indian food, but want something a little more unusual.

The best South Indian food I’ve ever had. Everything is flavorful. I’ve never had better sambar nor a better dosa. I want to give it 5 stars but the service was a little off. We put our order in at the same time and my friends’ dosa came out literally 5 minutes after mine. There was no explanation or anything. So tasty, though. So tasty.

The food was excellent. I agree with the other reviews on this.
My concern is cleanliness — the waiter dropped utensils on the floor, then picked them up and continued setting tables. He sneezed on the dishes [not ours — I would have sent it back]. He noticed a piece of gunge on my wife’s plate and scraped it off with his fingernail [we did get a clean plate].
The toilets were very clean and neither of us got sick but we probably would not go back until the health inspector does a thorough review of this place. Too bad — as I stated, the food was excellent.

This place is fantastic! I was not expecting to find delicious Indian food… a BYO at that, while on vacation in Scotland, but I’m so happy we did. The food was delicious and unlike any other Indian food I’ve had in the states, as we mostly have northern Indian cuisine. I love the intricate use of spices and coconut milk as opposed to heavy creams as is common with northern Indian cuisine. The prices were very reasonable and the service was absolutely lovely. If this place were near me in the states I’d be bringing all my friends there!

As a curry lover it is always nice to find somewhere which has a slightly unique spin on (probably) one of this nations favourite things… Tanjore is a real South Indian restaurant, no standard chicken tikka masala or vindaloo here. Instead what is served is a selection of rich curries (I think most contain yoghurt or coconut milk) cooked well, with an emphasis on vegetarian options and fish.
Ok, that is the good, the bad is that the service is just uneven, never unpleasant but perhaps not that interested or simply not aware of where people are in their meals. Others have noted this too, so I don’t feel I need to push the issue, however it is a shame.
All in All Tanjore offers good and different curry and it is BYOB establishment, so I will be back, they just need to sort the service out a little.

This was a rather surreal experience — I wasn’t blown away at the time, but the more I thought about my dosa, the more I liked it, and the more I wanted to go back. So perhaps this is a 3.5 star really rather than a 4.
Anyway, buyer beware — it’s cash only and BYOB. Next!
LOADS of vegetarian options — and lots of interesting and exciting sounding things that really got the mouth watering. I couldn’t decide between the augergine curry, or a dosa, and I plumped for the latter. Lucky for me, my friend ordered the aubergine curry — perfect! I like a 2 for 1 deal (OK so maybe she got to eat a *little* bit).
We also checked out the parotta bread, mainly because we didn’t know what it was, and had a couple of starters (spinach and paneer dumping for me — not as exciting as I thought they would be, and chicken pakora).
When the dosa appeared, I had the customary reaction of holy moly, it’s HUGE — and full of potato, and herbs, not strong flavours, but grew on it as I munched away. It came with some soupy thing, which was pleasant, and some dips to support the dosa, some better than others. The parotta was a novelty and felt deliciously unhealthy.
The most strange part was the service, which was all over the place — slow to take orders, and then we were pretty much told to hurry up eating our starter, as our main was ready. After rushing through the starter, we abandoned our remaining poppadum, which was then shook at us to keep eating. It felt all rather… odd. It is definitely not a romantic, nor the most luxurious meal, but a week later, I’m missing my dose-​a dosa, and I’d be happy to go back. Looking at other Indian restaurant menus just makes me think, hmm, I’d rather go back to Tanjore. That must be good, right?

Been wanting to come here since the place opened and finally got organised this weekend. The restaurant looked a bit tightly packed with tables, but once seated there seemed to be plenty of space. Modern Asian decorations with some interesting touches here and there. Nothing too out there and it did manage to conjure up a comfortable feeling to the place. The service was great from the minute we got in through to getting the bill. The menu is extensive with some really interesting bits and bobs I haven’t seen elsewhere. The waiter discussed the specials with us and the orders were in.
Papadam and dips were a highlight nothing too exciting about the dips but the pickle was different to any others I have tried. It seemed like it was homemade rather than from a jar. Thumbs up from me. We ordered 4 Papadams and it looked more like 6 or 7 we were given. :D
The starters were met with mixed options the chicken and squid tanjores were excellent as were the accompanying salads. The Rasa Vadai seemed a little strange we hadn’t had Vadai before but it didn’t leave an experience that we wanted to repeat in a hurry. The Rasam it was severed in was lovely though. Just in case you haven’t tried it, Rasam is Indian tomato soup and well worth a try.
The mains were mixed and I forget what my dinner companions ordered but everything was excellent. Both veggies and carnivores alike loved there choices. I went for the special of the day which was rice with a mango/​tamarind fish curry with Idli on the side. Lidls were new to me and were steamed rice and lentil cakes. They didn’t really taste of much but they did go well with the curry. The curry had lots of fish but the tamarind was overpowering everything leaving the dish tasting a little bitter. It was really nice just not great.
I will be heading back to try some more of the menu as I think the special didn’t really work for me, but my companions loved their curries. If the fish curry had been a little more mango and a little less tamarind this would be a 5 star review, as all the other dishes were amazing.

For a fairly impromptu mid-​price meal in honour of my friend’s new flat and job, Tanjore did the trick nicely. The clean and compact interior feels welcoming enough and fuses East and West nicely with elephant embroidery on the ceiling around a classic chandelier.
We both boggled at the sheer range on offer within the menu’s numerous pages — which include an entire page devoted solely to vegetarian starters — before eventually selecting our meals. She plumped for Chennai fish curry with mint rice, and I decided on Chicken Tanjore with lemon rice.
We were both happy with the delicate balance of flavours in our curries, and my friend’s mint rice was pretty special too. The sweetness of the parotta was also a great accompaniment to the spicy flavours of the other food.
The service, though, was a little laboured and perfunctory from most quarters (we had three different waiters over the course of the evening; a special mention goes out to the young chap who served us last, though, with a smile that lit the room). I was waiting for my friend to arrive for a good ten minutes and was not asked if I wanted a drink. Similarly, nobody checked on us during our meal to see if everything was ok.
Our bill came to just under £35, which is really rather good for what we got, but I can’t help feeling that the experience would have left a warmer glow in my memory if the staff had been a little more attentive and personable. I wouldn’t object to another trip here but it’s not somewhere I’d specifically recommend.

Wow, this is authentic. I’ve never been to India but dined with people who had and even they were very much impressed by Tanjore! From the minute I stepped in the door, I felt like I was in India, at least how I’d imagined a restaurant in India would look. The décor is great with Indian wall hangings on the walls and ceiling, giving a cosey, decorative feel.
I had a masala dosai, something I’d never heard of before but which was recommend to me. So tasty! I love Indian food and I’d say I’m a curry girl through and through. But I couldn’t help but get excited when I caught sight of the giant curry filled crêpe presented before me with a range of sauces and dips, most of which were to my tastes! (Although I wasn’t too keen on the mint dip!) They’re a generous size but light and just as filling as a main course should be. I had a mango lassis which is a thick mango flavoured drink, almost like a milkshake. It was so delicious that I struggled not to finish it before my meal arrived!
We had a range of desserts to share which were incredible too. Everything I had to eat in Tanjore blew my tastebuds away. The service seemed a little slow but perhaps we only noticed since we were in a bit of a rush. They don’t accept cards so remember to bring cash, we had to pop out to get some! All in all, a taste of India in Edinburgh. I’ll happily return!

I recently joined Blythe R here for lunch with the purpose of reviewing and we were both pretty well impressed with the place but I’ll try to stick to my own opinion here as you can see his below.
First up, I wandered in on my own and made a pig’s ear of communicating my booking arrangement to the staff and somehow got sat at the wrong table, only to realise that another large table was being quickly set up because I had sat at the wrong one. When realised my booking was for two and not six and, embarrassed, communicated this (I’m sure they had already realised) they didn’t show the slightest irritation and happily moved my to another table.
Service was exemplary, friendly and efficient. Once our orders of dosa, idli and utthapam were taken, there was a bit of a wait, but this was deemed well worth it when it emerged that our food had been made fresh to our order, and was frankly delicious. We wanted for nothing throughout the meal as service remained attentive but not at all intrusive.
Another great part of the experience was that advice we received regarding the menu was honest and we weren’t up-​sold or overly full by the end.
The value is as great the South Indian food and I will be going here again, soon.

I love this place, it is so authentic, it reminds me of being in India. The staff are wonderful, the space is clean and bright, the menu is overwhelming.
It is cheaper than the vegetarian restaurant kalpna which is just a few doors down, though I can’t decide which is best. I have to say that the dosas at Kalpna are the best I have tried in Edinburgh, but tanjore does a good job. There are so many options, including uttapam, idli, dosas and thalis. I usually go for the addictive masala dosa, which comes accompanied with various chutneys and sambar.
If you want to try really authentic Indian food, do come here! Expect great service in a casual setting and really lovely food.

For South Indian style cuisine, Tanjore is the best we’ve found in Edinburgh, so far. Their dosas have considerable wow factor, and made me a convert to their cause. The place is very welcoming, keeps things nicely informal, and you have a good opportunity to see the chefs at work. Dishes are high on flavour, and represent excellent value.
Overall, we said: «I was highly impressed by Tanjore. For this style of South Indian food, it was as good as I’ve experienced in the city. This is definitely a place that I’ll be visiting again, in the future, so if you like the sound of it, do give me a shout when you’re planning to go, as I’d be happy to join you!»

Mmmm… crêpe wrapped curries.
Family owned, super friendly,
B.Y.O.B…Too!

Curry = good. Pancake = good. Curry + pancake = great.
South Indian cuisine is becoming more popular these days and with good reason, as it always feels a bit lighter than the usual curry stodgefest.
I think curry is much improved by the additional tastes and textures of dosas, idlis and other doughy delights, especially in combination with the various dips and sauces that always accompany them. Check out my photo to see how huge the dosa is. Everything is fairly cheap so it’s easy to try a number of small things, and if you can’t decide what to have for your main, just about everything comes in a mini starter size.
I would be happy just dipping pieces of the light pancake in all the delicious dips and sauces, but when you also have some tasty curry inside, it’s the gift that keeps on giving. If you’re bored of the usual curry standards then this place is for you.